Bai Lu’s ice-blue pupils contracted for a moment as she forcibly suppressed those absurd, burning images in her mind. Her face remained cold and expressionless, as if the one whose heart had just been racing wasn’t her at all. She spoke softly, her voice returning to its usual calmness.
“She is in the back, nourishing her meridians and tempering her Dragon Body. I will go and bring her here; you should come as well.”
Fantasies were, after all, just fantasies. The White Dragon Main Hall was not a suitable place for such things. If something were to happen, it would be more appropriate to go back to her living quarters.
Mentioning their daughter made Jiang Huai’s eyes light up. The subtle emotion caused by Bai Lu’s attitude seemed to be temporarily set aside.
“Fine,” he agreed readily.
Seeing his change in expression, a nearly imperceptible twitch touched the corner of Bai Lu’s mouth. She stood up, her plain white dress flowing down like a wave of water. She stepped down the ice stairs and walked straight toward the rear of the hall.
Jiang Huai followed silently behind her, staring at her slender and elegant back. They passed through several ice corridors carved with ancient dragon marks and arrived at a more quiet and private residence. The air was filled with the scents belonging to Bai Lu and Xiao Jianjia.
Bai Lu carefully lifted Xiao Jianjia from a misty, chilling Spirit Pool in the inner room and wrapped her up. The baby girl seemed to have just finished a round of nourishment and was sleeping soundly, her little face rosy.
Jiang Huai stepped forward to take her. His movements were a bit clumsy, yet exceptionally gentle. He held his daughter in his arms, feeling the warmth emanating from her tiny body. As he looked at her peaceful sleeping face, a wave of infinite tenderness and affection surged in his heart. He had always been protective and gentle toward his own people, let alone this exquisite daughter who shared his bloodline.
Bai Lu sat quietly by the bed, silently watching this scene. She didn’t speak, but merely gazed at Jiang Huai’s softened profile and the peacefully sleeping Xiao Jianjia in his arms. Deep within her ice-blue eyes, complex emotions flowed silently.
After a long while, Jiang Huai looked up as if casually and met Bai Lu’s gaze, his tone carrying a hint of testing. “When I fought Qin Shuqu last time, although you eventually pulled us apart, I actually suffered a fairly serious internal injury. I’ve been feeling a bit uncomfortable ever since.”
He had been brooding over this matter. It wasn’t that he blamed Bai Lu for intervening, but rather that after he was injured, she had carelessly tossed him to Chi Lian and walked away without even asking a single question or showing any concern. That bone-chilling indifference made him feel quite miserable.
Hearing this, Bai Lu’s long eyelashes flickered slightly, but her face remained expressionless. She merely gave a flat “Mhm.” Her tone was indifferent. “Since you are injured, you should just focus on regulating your breath and recuperating.”
She paused, seemingly wanting to end the conversation. “If you don’t have any other urgent matters — “
“I do have something!” Jiang Huai interrupted her, his voice rising slightly as his gaze locked onto hers.
Bai Lu’s heart skipped a beat at his slightly aggressive interruption. A current of electricity, mixed with anticipation and tension, surged down her spine.
‘Is it starting? Is he going to get angry? Is he going to bully me?’
Jiang Huai held Xiao Jianjia close and stood up. He walked over to Bai Lu, looking down at her as she sat on the edge of the bed.
“Do you have some kind of problem with me? Or some prejudice? If you do, you can just say it.” His eyes held confusion, as well as a bit of resentment accumulated from being treated coldly for so long. “Why are you always so cold to me? You’ll even give a word or two of encouragement to the new juniors of the Human Race or the beasts. But with me, it’s like you can’t even be bothered to look at me?”
Under his piercing gaze, Bai Lu slightly lowered her eyelids. She reached out her slender fingers, unconsciously rubbing them against each other; her fingertips were icy. After a few breaths of silence, she finally spoke softly, her voice still devoid of any ups and downs.
“What if I do? What if I don’t?” She raised her head, her ice-blue eyes meeting Jiang Huai’s gaze, looking completely undisturbed. “What can you even do?”
Her tone took on a provocative edge. “Even if… I told you right now that I don’t want you anymore and that I’m divorcing you, what could you do? Aren’t you relying on me to survive? Without my protection, in the vastness of the Five Provinces, under the Celestial Vastness and The Rampant Void, who could possibly protect you?”
She said these words with total calm. Only she knew that her heart was pounding wildly, barely maintaining her cold facade.
‘I said it. I said such heavy words! Such excessive, hurtful words that trample on his dignity! You should be angry now, right? You should be in a rage! Come do something. Scold me, hit me, teach me a harsh lesson. Pin me down on this bed and punish me in your most furious way; make me pay the price for saying those things. Let me know you care. Let me feel your anger and possessiveness. Let me completely become a female… dragon that belongs only to you.’
Reality and fantasy, however, diverged once again.
Hearing her ice-cold, nearly humiliating words, Jiang Huai did not fly into a rage or take any aggressive action as she had imagined. He just stared at her blankly, his face written with disbelief and pain. It was as if he was truly seeing the person in front of him for the first time, or as if he had been completely stunned by her words.
After a long time, he finally spoke, his voice dry and carrying a cautious need for confirmation. “You’re saying those things… Is it true?”
Bai Lu was startled, but she answered, “It’s true.”
After saying that, Jiang Huai stopped speaking. He stared at Xiao Jianjia in his arms in silence, feeling extremely sad for a moment.
“You’re right. I do need you. But you’re also wrong, because I don’t need your protection. I have my own ways to survive.” He turned to leave, holding his daughter tightly, leaving Bai Lu with only his back. “Haven’t you been drawing boundaries for the various sects lately? Please leave a region for my Nine Heavens Palace as well, White Dragon Clan Leader. I’ll be taking Yingman and Si Liu and the others with me. As for future cooperation, I suppose I will still need the White Clan Leader. But I can guarantee your cooperation won’t be a loss, because only I can stand against the Celestial Vastness in the future.”
Jiang Huai’s spirit was dim, but remembering that he needed to break through his bottleneck, he felt forced to act this way. As for protecting himself, if he could say such words, he naturally had cards up his sleeve. Moreover, Su Yingman was close to the Great Ascension Stage. By uniting the Human Race and the beasts outside, they would surely survive.
“Also, I won’t leave the child with you. Don’t even think about using her.”
With that, he prepared to leave with Xiao Jianjia.
Hearing this, Bai Lu suddenly panicked. She finally realized she had played with fire too much. She stood up abruptly and hurriedly cried out, “If you leave, who can protect you? Su Yingman is only at the Merging Stage!”
‘How did it come to this? Why is he like this? Didn’t he bully me like that last time? Doesn’t he know that all he has to do is do it again?’
Jiang Huai still didn’t stop. He left without even looking back, his footsteps hurried.
“Don’t go! Don’t go!”
In a flash, Bai Lu moved behind Jiang Huai. She scrambled and grabbed his waist, then slid down, tightly hugging his leg. Her cold, calm face could no longer be maintained. Her lower body was practically dragging on the ground as she clung to him.
“No, wait… just wait a moment… please.”
She finally realized that he was truly heartbroken.
Jiang Huai stopped, looking down in astonishment at Bai Lu, who was tightly clutching his leg.
‘Has she gone completely out of her mind?’